Technical Research for Undocking Scheme on the Horizontal Slipway for Towing the 15,000 Ton Launching Weight Bulk-Carrier

Abstract

When comparing with ship construction within newly-built docks or on tilting slipways, ship constructing on the flat earth method can be said to be a new ship-building technique by which ship is built on a platform and launched with the aid of floating-dock or barge. Some obvious advantages of this technique are such as less investment in basic facilities, low production cost, high production efficiency, wide applicability of ship types, ability to overcome the bottle-neck effect of berths and docks. In this paper, a bulk-carrier being taken as an example, the design of launching processing scheme on the horizontal shipway includes calculation of launching weight and determination of hoisting force during the whole towing period. The whole towing process of hull can be divided into three stages, the first is from the static state to the moment of beginning to move, the second is from the initial position of movement to the front of slipway onto which the hull is predicted to be pulled, and the third is from the front of slipway to the designated position on the floating dock. Subsequently, after the hull being sealed and positioned correctly, the floating dock for launching may be towed to deeper water zone and the hull can be buoyed up on the water surface, and the whole launching process can be completed. From the research, the conclusion is made that the launching technique of this paper is available and feasible. Especially, this paper is the initial application of this method on the 15000t launching ship home and has the epoch-making sense.